Commonwealth Shakespeare Company's KING LEAR Begins Tonight

One of Greater Boston's most beloved traditions, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company's "Free Shakespeare On The Common" continues its 20th season with William Shakespeare's King Lear with celebrated Boston actor Will Lyman in the title role.

Directed by Founding Artistic Director Steven Maler, King Lear follows the journey of the aging king, faced with his own mortality and mental decline as he tries to secure the legacy of his kingdom by dividing it amongst his three daughters. Only through loss-of status, of love, of loyalty-does King Lear learn what is truly resonant at the end of a life.

Performances will be tonight, July 22, through August 9, 2015 on the Boston Common near the Parkman Bandstand, running Tuesdays-Saturdays, 8pm; Sundays, 7pm; and one matinee on Saturday, August 8, 3pm. (Opening Night/Press Performance is Wednesday July 29 at 8pm). Performances are free and open to the public. For reserved "Friends Section" chairs, special events and more information visit online at www.commshakes.org or call (617) 426-0863. Weather hotline is 781-239-5972.

"King Lear is one of Shakespeare's monumental plays," says Maler. "There's good reason I've waited 20 years to take it on. As with the greatest of Shakespeare's history plays, Lear blends the political and the personal, interweaving a country's destiny with the very human frailties of those charged with shepherding its future. The play reveals what it means to be human--our responsibilities to ourselves, our family and our fellow human beings--as well as true loyalty and loyalty as pretense for deceit, and the struggles in times of succession and transition that are as resonant today as they were four hundred years ago."

"As an actor (and a human), being cast as King Lear definitely places one at a rather advanced point in life," says Lyman. "It's very exciting, scary and gratifying to be given the pinnacle role, but I mean, just a few years ago, I was still 'getting the girl', you know? Now I'm starting to play characters on the edge of death. It does have an effect on one's psyche."

Lyman adds, "Of course, in my fantasies, I hope this will be the best evening of Shakespeare anyone has ever seen; the one that makes people say, "I finally understand why everybody says Shakespeare was such a great playwright. In truth, I just hope that this will be a theatre experience that speaks honestly about who we are, and about the difficulties and joys of our human experience."

"I am thrilled to be working with Will, one of Boston's most revered actors," says Maler. 'The breadth and depth of his work has deeply impacted the Boston theater scene. He's both fearless and gentle. His command of language is superb, and his empathy and humanity is manifold. He's the perfect Lear for Boston!"

The cast features Will Lyman (King Lear)* Fred Sullivan, Jr.* (Earl of Gloucester), Jeremiah Kissel* (Earl of Kent), Ed Hoopman* (Edgar), Mickey Solis* (Edmund), Brandon Whitehead* (Fool), Deb Martin* (Goneril), Mimi Bilinski* (Regan), Libby McKnight (Cordelia), Mark Soucy (Duke of Albany), Maurice Emmanuel Parent* (Duke of Cornwall), Brandon Green (Oswald) and Jerry Goodwin (Doctor/Old Man).

The design team includes Beowulf Boritt (Scenic Designer), Peter West (Lighting Designer), Katherine O'Neill (Costume Designer), Colin Thurmond (Sound Designer), Yo-el Cassell (Movement), and Jeremy Browne (Fight Director).

Again this year, pre-show opportunities will include The Greenshow, featuring CSC's Apprentice Program, and Commonwealth Concerts, with New England Conservatory.